


Glassful of Flashbacks

by tayeah



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Bickering, Drunken Kissing, Love/Hate, M/M, Underage Drinking, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 02:30:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10548526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tayeah/pseuds/tayeah
Summary: ”I was just curious. And worried, you know, little Ashy... You could do something stupid while being drunk.”Ash wakes up hangover after a party, and Gary has to refresh his memory a bit.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a work in progress for years now, and I’m not even exaggerating. Now, inspired by Palletshipping Day (which was yesterday, 4th of April), I finally managed to write the few remaining words and do a brief check over the whole thing – so FINALLY, here’s some ”new” Palletshipping from me! Yay!!
> 
> The characters are portrayed as something like 16-17 years old here, so I know they’re not legally allowed to drink and smoke. But I’m from Finland where you’re basically a weirdo if you don’t drink since teenage years, so of course I’d write something like this.
> 
> You know those creatures in the Pokémon world that follow the people around and are kind of the point of the whole merchandise? You know, _the pokémon?_ I’m great at completely excluding them while writing. Great, ay? Let’s imagine Misty specifically wanted to throw a ”leave your kids at home” type of party, the kids being pokémon.

**_Saturday, 9:16 AM_ **

”Good morning, sunshine. You better get your ass up soon if you want to get any breakfast.”

Ash tried to bury himself deeper between the sheets. He wasn’t even fully awake before he realized that the mumbling voice he made was echoing strangely in his head. It hurt. Not in the hitting-your-toe-and-getting-a-bruise way. This was more like getting-constantly-hit-by-a-demolition-ball pain.

He slowly peeked through his eyelashes. Sheets. They weren’t his. He glanced at the wall. It was just as unfamiliar.

Because of the headache it took him a while to remember someone had just talked beside him. He turned his head carefully. His companion was sitting on the windowsill, window open, leaning his back against the frame and calmly smoking a cigarette.

It was odd enough that it happened to be Gary. But what made it even weirder to see was that he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

Then Ash realized _he_ wasn’t wearing a shirt either.

”Uh – Gary?” Ash mumbled, not quite getting the situation. ”Why are you here?”  
Gary chuckled. ”Wouldn’t you care to know where we _are_ in the first place?”  
”Uh. Yeah.” Ash blinked, checking the room around. ”Where are we?”  
”At Misty’s. Upstairs. She let us sleep in here after the party.”

Then Ash finally came to think about the reason for not having a slightest memory of getting up here.

”Right, there was a party”, he finally said.  
”Good job, Sherlock”, said Gary. ”You were pretty reckless, you know. It didn’t take you more than couple of hours to pass out. Care for a painkiller?”  
Ash blushed, but reached out to take the pill when Gary handed it over. ”You’re the one to say about recklessness.”  
”How much do you remember?” Gary gave him one of his most irritating smirks.  
Ash sneered and swallowed the painkiller with a glass water that had been very thoughtfully placed on the table. ”I remember you provoked me all evening.”

* * *

**_Friday, 9:06 PM_ **

It started out as a usual argue. Ash didn’t have anything special to do at the party since Brock wasn’t keeping him company – and well, he was sick of listening to girls’ gossiping. So when Gary had appeared and stirred up a playful conflict between them, he was mostly glad about it. He needed to get some adrenaline into his system.

”You’re going to drink something, aren’t you?” the boy dressed in his usual black blouse asked him deviously. Ash stared at his on-off-rival, already feeling the adrenaline he had longed for.  
”Is it actually your business?” he asked back.  
”Oh, I heard you’d be a little bit mature these days, but I think it was just a rumor”, said Gary.  
Ash got annoyed. ”Like you should speak about maturity. Besides, what does that have with me drinking or not?”  
”Oh, nothing, nothing”, Gary acted nice. ”I was just curious. And worried, you know, little Ashy... You could do something stupid while being drunk.”  
”Shut up.”  
”Of course it wouldn’t be anything new from you”, Gary continued.  
”Shut up, Gary!”  
”Make me.”

Ash didn’t say anything. He glared at the brown-haired boy next to him. It seemed like Gary had already drunk some. He wasn’t any pricklier than usually – the only thing that told the truth was his eyes. They glowed in a new way.

”I’ll go get you a drink”, Gary suddenly offered.  
”Huh?”  
”Let’s toast to our long-lasting friendship.”  
Ash stared at him. ”Piss off.”  
Gary smiled. ”Scared?”

It was obviously a word Ash couldn’t stand hearing. After a few minutes of arguing he found himself holding a glass with both of his hands, sitting on a table in the opposite of Gary.

”Cheers”, Gary smirked.

Ash glared at him and lifted his glass on his lips. The taste wasn’t that bad, but he could feel the alcohol on his tongue. It felt a little bit uncomfortable at first. He tried to drink more of the liquid. He let his eyes study his surroundings while he drank – so many people were here, laughing, dancing and chatting, all of them cheerful and happy. Misty was good with these parties, that was a fact.

When he had finished the small drink, he put the glass on the table and looked at Gary.

”There you go, buddy”, Gary laughed. ”How does it feel being a sinner?”  
”Do you really need to ask to know?” said Ash, trying to ignore the vicious taste of alcohol in his mouth.  
”Another one?” Gary offered. ”It’s all on me.”  
”No it’s not, this is the free punch Misty has made for the guests”, Ash pointed out. ”Besides, what’s your goal here?”  
”Oh, I’d just love to see you totally wasted.” 

* * *

**_Saturday, 9:19 AM_ **

”I did see you pretty wasted.”  
”I don’t think you were that sober yourself”, said Ash. ”You were already a little drunk when I had my first.”  
”Yeah, I thought I’d give you some handicap.”  
”Why must you be so –!” Ash snapped, but the outburst made his head hurt, so he clung onto it and fell silent.

After a moment of resting his head he managed to talk again. ”You still didn’t explain how we ended up here.”  
”Patience. I’m getting there.” Gary’s smile was arrogant and very much aggravating to Ash. ”Well, I made you drink more. Just to mention, if you hadn’t drunk so fast, you wouldn’t have been half as drunk in such a short time.”  
”I do remember drinking under your pressure, thank you”, Ash murmured. ”I didn’t realize it would affect me so quickly. But lucky for me, you drank with the same speed.”  
”I’ll have to admit I did.”

* * *

**_Friday, 10:11 PM_ **

”You know, you should just piss off and let people enjoy their parties and everyone would be happy”, Ash murmured with a slightly slurred voice.

”Don’t be so negative, dude! What would a party be without me?” Gary laughed, his voice not any clearer than Ash’s. ”Besides, you know, you haven’t ditched me even though you keep telling me how much I bug you. What’s up with that, huh?”

”I don’t have anything better to do.” Ash frowned. ”Brock is somewhere hitting on girls and the girls are somewhere either running off from Brock or hitting on other guys. I’m sick of watching it.”  
Gary smirked. ”Ever heard of puberty? An average teen would be interested in other people. But of course it’s a different story when it comes to you.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ash growled in irritation.  
“The only time there’s any traffic between your brain cells is when you’re about to battle. That’s pretty sad.”  
”I do think about other things, too”, Ash cut him off.  
”Like what?”  
”Like...” Ash mumbled, voice fading. “Well, things.”  
“Liiiike… what?” Gary asked with a teasing voice.

Ash lost his temper again. “Oh, just shut it! I just happen to consider my pokémon more important than… that!”  
“Aww, you can’t even say it. That’s cute”, Gary grinned. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. “I’m going out. Wanna come with me?”  
Ash blinked. “Out? Uh. Well. Okay.”

Ash didn’t know why he followed the most irritating guy in the whole party outside to spend more time with him. But well, he wasn’t really in the shape to think logically, anyway. When they were outside, Ash glared at Gary in silence as the boy took a cigarette, lit it and leaned his back against the wall.

* * *

**_Saturday, 9:22 AM_ **

His eyes had gotten stuck on the view, actually. Ash remembered _thinking_ that he should stop staring at Gary, but he hadn’t done anything to do so. It probably was because of the alcohol; he had felt hazy, dizzy, comfortable…

There was something fascinating about the laid-back attitude Gary had shown. He had glanced around, shot some quick smiles at other people having their smokes and leaned the back of his head against the wall.

That was something Ash now remembered clearly – _too_ clearly, now that he thought about it. Gary’s lips had been slightly parted, taking a puff of the cigarette every once in a while. His hair had looked like Gary had spent hours on it, except that it always looked like that. And Gary probably wasn’t even aware of how seductive the exposed skin of his arched neck was.

No matter how Ash tried to remind himself what a huge jerk Gary was, he couldn’t blame people for easily falling for a guy with such looks. Not that Ash would ever admit it, drunk or not.

“So you pushed me further to drink more and more”, Ash claimed just to change the direction of his thoughts.  
“Actually we both did push each other further”, Gary corrected him. “You were attacking me with insults, too.” He sighed. “I wouldn’t have such a headache if you hadn’t been around to practically make it into a battle.”  
“It’s you who was doing it”, Ash snapped. “You always start teasing me out of blue and pissing me off.”  
“You’re always the one who takes it further. You must really like arguing.”  
“That’s not true! You just get on my nerves.”  
”Natural talent then, eh?” Gary grinned. “Speaking of talent, you have none whatsoever when it comes to dancing.”

* * *

**_Friday, 10:39 PM_ **

“Dancing?” Ash moaned. “No way. I’m not coming.”  
“More drinks then? It’ll boost your dance moves.”  
“Didn’t you hear me? I’m not gonna dance.”  
“We’ll see about that.”

Gary re-filled their glasses without really waiting for Ash’s permission. As more alcohol was downed, Gary’s insults and Ash’s protests became softer; all the bickering happened just because it was a habit, but there was no real fire behind them.

It wasn’t long before Ash found himself on the dance floor after all.

”This is not because you told me to dance!” Ash yelled over the loud music.  
”Of course not”, Gary laughed. ”You wanted to dance all along, then?”  
There was too much noise; Ash couldn’t quite hear Gary’s words. ”What?”  
”You wanted to dance all along!”  
”Oh!” now Ash heard it. ”No. I just thought, well, why not.”  
”Yeah, right. By the way, it seems like the girls are having fun.”  
”What?”  
”The girls are – oh, for Arceus’ sake.”

Gary took a hold of Ash’s shoulders and turned him over. Now Ash was facing a group of their female friends who were doing silly dance moves and laughing hysterically. Gary leaned close. His hands slid down from Ash’s shoulders to his upper arms, stopping to rest just above the crook of the arm.  
”I said the girls are having fun”, Gary said to Ash’s ear. His chest was pressed against Ash’s back and he leaned his chin over Ash’s shoulder.

Ash could feel Gary’s breathe against his neck. He was surprised to realize that the pressure of another body leaning against his felt kind of nice. Even if it was this jerk.  
It took him a while to form an answer. ”Y-yeah. Seems so.”

Then the moment was over and Gary let go of him. Ash felt oddly disappointed for a fleeting second.

Then Gary smoothly moved on to talk to other people in the room. Ash drifted towards another group.

For a long while, he had fun with his friends, coming up with stupider and stupider dance moves with them and making them laugh. But something was missing. Sometimes let his gaze move over the room, absently looking for Gary. The boy wasn’t there anymore.

Finally, Ash left the group and walked to the kitchen. He wasn’t sure where his glass was, so he thought he’d find a new one.

He froze at the kitchen doorway when he saw that Gary and one of Misty’s female friends alone in the room. Gary was leaning his back nonchalantly against the counter, and the girl with braided sand-brown hair was giggling at his words, standing unnecessarily close to him.

Gary noticed Ash standing in the doorway. ”Hi, Ashy”, he greeted cheerfully. ”Looking for something?”  
Ash swallowed. He had suddenly forgotten why he was in the kitchen. Obviously the alcohol’s fault. ”I, uh –”

”Ashy? Are you Ash?” the girl asked. She was swaying slightly from the alcohol. ”Like, _the_ Ash?”  
”Depends on what you mean by _the_ Ash”, said Ash.  
”Oh, I _just_ heard about you from Gary”, the girl giggled.  
Gary laughed, but his laughter didn’t sound completely genuine. ”Okay, Milly, enough of that.”

Milly slapped Gary’s hand playfully and laughed. Ash watched her features. She was a cute one; the smile on her face was bright, a little bit mischievous and very pretty. No wonder Gary was here with her.

”Don’t be a spoilsport! Now, _Ashy_ ”, Milly giggled at the nickname, ”I asked Gary if he knew a cute guy I could meet at this party. Which was totally me flirting with him, _by the way_.” She emphasized the last words to Gary.  
”It wasn’t that subtle, really”, Gary said with an amused tone. ”I just wanted to give you options.”

Ash raised his eyebrows in surprise and shifted his weight from one foot to another. ”Where is this going?” he asked, glancing at Gary warily.  
Milly turned her attention to Ash again. ”Oh, he mentioned I should check you out in case I’m interested in dark-haired cuties”, she said brightly. ”And now that I see you in person, I couldn’t agree more.”

Ash blushed slightly. He wasn’t used to hearing such things from girls. From anyone, at that. ”Oh.”  
”A ’thank you’ would do wonders”, Gary noted.  
”You shut up!” Ash heated up immediately. Then he looked at Milly, uncertain of how he should handle this.

”Thank you”, he said under his breath.

* * *

**_Saturday, 9:26 AM_ **

”Seriously? You used the words ‘dark-haired cutie’?” Ash asked mockingly.  
Gary rolled his eyes. ”I was trying to get you some attention, and this is how you thank me?”  
”I don’t need your help”, spat Ash.  
”Yeah, yeah, that was what you kept telling me.”

* * *

**_Friday, 11:17 PM_ **

Ash and Gary stayed in the kitchen for a while after Milly left.

”She was totally into you”, Gary claimed, arms crossed across his chest.  
”So?” Ash grunted. He held a new drink in his hand with almost too much force.  
”Why didn’t you take the offer?”  
Ash avoided Gary’s eyes. ”Why didn’t you? She wanted you first.”  
Gary shrugged and turned his back to pour himself a new drink. ”Your loss.”

Ash’s usual temper and the alcohol he had consumed met in a very unjustified irritation. He straightened up and stared at Gary.

”What’s your problem?!” Ash snapped. ”Why is it any of your business if I hang out with a girl or not?”  
”I just wanted to help you out”, Gary said innocently.  
”I don’t need your help!”

Gary turned to face him fully now. He studied Ash’s face carefully for a few seconds. Even though Gary was undoubtedly tipsy, his eyes were sharp – suddenly Ash felt very insecure. He absently thought that maybe Gary wasn’t as drunk as he was.

”What’s your problem, then?” Gary asked slowly. ”Why are you so pissed off about this?”

Ash’s grip of his glass tightened. Hell, if he should know why he was so pissed.

”Inexperienced?” Gary mocked. ”Don’t know what to do with a girl?”  
”Not your business”, snarled Ash. Somewhere in the back of his head, his rational mind told him that Gary was provoking him on purpose and that he shouldn’t fall for it. But its voice was too quiet.

Gary smirked. ”Could it be that you’ve never kissed anyone?”  
”I have!”  
”Really?”  
”I just don’t think there’s anything special about kissing.”

Gary took a sip of his own drink. Somehow, he managed to do even _that_ in a way that was somehow aggravating to Ash. Then the brunet said with a slow, cunning voice: ”So you haven’t had a _real_ kiss.”

Ash’s urge to punch Gary in the face was steadily increasing. He put his glass down on the table. ”Why would I even care about something like that?”  
”You wouldn’t, because you’re childish”, Gary said haughtily.  
” _Who’s_ childish here?!” Ash yelled. 

At this point, he wasn’t really thinking about rationality; his feet and hands moved on their own. A second or two later, he was facing Gary from barely a foot apart, holding the collar of Gary’s shirt in an aggressive grip.

”Here I thought I could get along with you today”, Ash hissed from between gritted teeth. ”It was actually fun for a little while.”  
Gary didn’t startle. He looked down on Ash completely calmly. ”You mean until Milly came along? Jealous much?”

Maybe it was the sudden movements after too many drinks, but suddenly Ash had trouble wrapping his mind around Gary’s words. Had Gary called him jealous? Ash stared up at Gary’s eyes, not loosening his grip of the boy’s shirt. He was getting dizzy all of a sudden.

Damn, Gary’s eyes were captivating with their strange color. Ash had never seen them this close; he had never been able to tell what shade of green they were.

Gary’s lips seemed soft.

Before Ash’s drunken mind knew what he was doing, he had pulled Gary down by the collar and slammed their mouths together.

* * *

**_Saturday, 9:28 AM_ **

”No. I. _Didn’t._ ”  
”You did.”  
” _No._ ”

Ash’s eyes were wide. He just stared at Gary, who adjusted his position on the windowsill and lit another cigarette calmly. As if nothing special was going on. As if he hadn’t just told Ash that they had _kissed_.

”No use to deny it, sweetie”, Gary then said lightly, obviously amused more than anything. ”You almost ate me alive.”

Ash almost gave another ‘no I didn’t’, but at this point, he knew it would be meaningless. Apparently Gary’s memory didn’t stop working even while drinking. Ash had forgotten a lot of things about last night, but with every detail Gary told him, the memories came crashing back. Gary wasn’t lying.

They _had_ had a good time. They _had_ gone to the dance floor and gotten separated, only to meet again with Milly around. Ash didn’t want to admit it, but he _had_ been jealous – just not about the fact that Milly had liked Gary first.

And he _had_ kissed Gary. Which was something he couldn’t give a proper explanation for to spare his life.

* * *

**_Friday, 11:22 PM_ **

Ash pushed Gary off him as suddenly as he had pulled him close. Liquid spilled from the glass in Gary’s hand at the sudden movement.

”Whoa”, Gary exhaled.

Ash didn’t say anything. He just glared at Gary, trying his best to keep up his irritated appearance. The plausibility suffered greatly from the fact that he was blushing red.

He was also out of breath. That wasn’t a sign of having control over the situation.

Gary uttered a laugh. He sounded almost impressed.

”You need to cool off”, Gary said after an awkward moment of silence. ”Let’s head out, shall we?”

Ash was surprised of the reaction; he had expected to be teased to hell and back. He couldn’t do anything but blink in haze and nod. Completely calm and unshaken, Gary downed the rest of the punch left in his glass and walked out of the room. Ash followed him quietly, each unstable footstep suddenly reminding him how much alcohol there was in his system.

Nobody was out on the porch this time. Ash stayed near the outer wall of the house; standing still with a steady surface behind his back had proven to lessen his dizziness. He was sulking but keeping his eyes on Gary.

Gary dug up a cigarette but didn’t light it yet. He glanced at Ash, still with a hint of amusement twinkling in the corner of his eyes. ”So, what was that?”  
”You provoked me”, Ash grunted immediately.  
”You have an interesting way to react to provoking”, Gary smirked. ”Gotta say I didn’t expect that from you.”

Ash’s blush deepened, but he kept staring at Gary feistily.

”I’m impressed, actually.” Gary lit the smoke, not turning his eyes away from Ash for more than a second at most. ”You caught me off-guard there.”

Something in the tone of Gary’s voice made Ash’s angry expression loosen a little. Gary wasn’t bullying him. It almost sounded like he was genuinely fascinated by this twist.

”It was pretty cool, actually”, Gary mumbled vaguely.

The smoke swirled up from the end of Gary’s cigarette and Ash could’ve sworn it made him even more lightheaded, because he found himself thinking again how good Gary looked in this dim light. He barely registered that Gary took a step closer.

They were both too drunk and excited to really think about what they were doing, when Gary pushed Ash against the wall, lifted his free hand to the side of Ash’s face and kissed him.

It was an eager but clumsy kiss, all tight lips and forceful pressure. Lips brushed against each other, unsure of which direction this was going.

Not that he’d admit it to Gary, but to be honest, Ash wasn’t that experienced – he wasn’t thoroughly sure how he was doing.

Then Gary pulled off, leaving his mouth lingering an inch away from Ash’s, and running his thumb over Ash’s lower lip. It made Ash’s lips part instinctively. Right after that, Gary tilted his head slightly and placed his mouth on Ash open lips again. Ash felt a brush of a tongue, and suddenly the kiss was just deeper and hungrier and _better_.

Ash was too groggy and stunned to fully comprehend how Gary was doing it, but he followed the lead without a second’s doubt. It was obvious to him now; Gary did indeed know a thing or two about real kisses.

* * *

**_Saturday, 9:28 AM_ **

The tables had turned. Ash had previously been embarrassed about kissing Gary and Gary had found it amusing, but now they were both in the middle of an awkward silence.

”Oh”, Ash said simply. ”All right then.”

The picture was coming clearer. They had made out, for a while even.

It had been... good.

Not bearable, not decent, but _good_.

Remembering that suddenly changed Ash’s whole attitude change. He had been moody all morning. Now he didn’t know what to say – or feel.

If someone would’ve told him just a few weeks ago that he would soon wake up to find out he had made out with his rival the night before, he would’ve sent one of his pokémon to beat up the person. Now the thought of ending up like that with Gary didn’t even bother him that much.

What was up what that?

”I remember that”, he said quietly.

Gary glanced at him. ”Congrats”, he said impassively.

Ash stared at Gary, realizing something. Gary had made the first move. The fact made Gary visibly uneasy now. The guy was doing his best to hide his emotions about this part of the story and was acting all sarcastic and indifferent, but he wasn’t his normal confident self.

Gary had picked on him for being so eager to kiss, yet he had done the same literally not ten minuter later. 

An amused expression slowly rose to Ash’s face. He shot an impish look at Gary. ”Ha! Who’s eating who alive?”

Gary’s cheeks became a faint tone of red, but he just rolled his eyes and sighed. ”Do you remember what happened next?”

Ash fell silent. His eyes went wide. ”Uh. Mi... Misty came out the door.”

* * *

**_Friday, 11:31 PM_ **

Misty came out the door.

”Hey guys, just checking in to see if – oh!”

If Ash had been sober, he would’ve instinctively made the quickest retreat ever. But his brain was working too slowly, and besides, he was trapped between Gary and a wall. Gary showed no sign of pulling back. He had just stopped with the kisses and turned his face to look at the girl standing at the door.

”You were saying?” Gary asked.

Misty’s eyes scanned them. Ash’s cheeks were red and his eyes wide, but groggy. Gary’s expression was mostly annoyed; he held a burnt-out cigarette on one hand and leaned on the wall with the other. Misty didn’t seem to be able to decide if she was more confused or entertained by the sight in front of him.

”I was going to check if everything’s alright with you two”, Misty said and smiled slyly. ”Apparently, things are more than alright.”

”We weren’t looking what it does like”, indistinct words tumbled out form Ash’s mouth. ”I mean, we – this isn’t –”  
Gary didn’t seem to mind at all that he had just been busted making out with a guy. ”Things are great, thanks. I actually have to ask for something.”  
”All right, what is it?”  
”We need a room.”  
”What!” Ash barked.  
”Umm –” Misty raised her eyebrows. ”I’m not sure if –”  
Gary turned his face towards Ash. ”You need some sleep, you drunkard.”

By the way Gary smirked, it was quite clear he was enjoying the situation. It was amusing to him how Misty reacted to his words and actions, not to mention Ash’s demeanor. Ash was torn between carefree drunkenness and embarrassed annoyance. 

”I don’t need sleep”, Ash protested. His slurred voice proved his words wrong.  
”Yes you do”, Gary said.  
”It’s not even midnight yet!”  
”Doesn’t matter, you’ve drunk a few too much.”  
Ash pouted. ”You made me.”

Gary chuckled and ruffled Ash’s hair, keeping his eyes on Ash’s stubborn face.  
”How about we rest for a while”, he then said diplomatically, ”and come back if you don’t feel like sleeping?”  
Ash’s frown melted off. ”Okay, whatever.”

Misty kept staring at them. She was obviously suspicious about Gary’s intentions, but didn’t say anything.  
”So, a place to sleep, then?” she asked slowly. ”And I would like to take a moment to emphasize the word _sleep_.”  
Gary smiled innocently at her. ”Just what do you think of me?”  
”And me!” Ash grunted.  
”Nothing”, Misty smiled just as innocently. ”I just found you two alone, drunk and passionately making out, and the next thing I know Gary is asking me for a room. No conclusion to draw there.”

Gary laughed and put the cigarette end into an ashtray. ”Just show us a place where this dork can doze off. I’ll try to behave.”

* * *

**_Saturday, 9:31 AM_ **

”How could you be so calm?!” Ash exclaimed.  
Gary uttered a small laugh. ”Well, I thought it was hilarious. Misty’s face was priceless, she was obviously questioning everything I said. I thought it’d be fun to, you know, keep ‘em guessing.”

Ash looked at Gary, not sure if he should be angry, amused or something completely else.

”You thought?” he asked quietly. ”You don’t think it anymore?”  
Gary gave him a contemplative glance. ”How come? Why do you ask?”  
”Because you seem bothered now.”

Gary’s hand rose to the back of his neck; he ran it through his own hair in an discomposed manner. ”Well... I’m not sure what people think. I know I would’ve done some things differently if I had been sober. But then again, why should I care?”

Ash nodded to both parts of Gary’s answer.

”Anyway”, Gary said to quickly change the subject. His expression became nasty again. ”Then we came upstairs together. And well...”  
The change in Gary’s demeanor gave Ash a gut feeling something bad was coming up. ”Well, what?”  
”You started undressing yourself immediately”, Gary smirked smugly.  
”No I didn’t!” Ash shrieked.  
Gary chuckled. ”Depends on how you look at it...”

* * *

**_Friday, 11:45 PM_ **

Ash giggled very uncharacteristically as he wobbled up the stairs. Gary held onto Ash’s arm to support both himself and the other boy – he wasn’t walking all that upright either.

”Try to stay on your feet, dude”, Gary laughed. He couldn’t help it; Ash’s cheerfulness was contagious.  
”Heyyy, Gary”, Ash slurred. ”Let’s just get door to mink, okay?”  
Gary laughed even louder. ”You mean more to drink?”  
”Yes. That. Can we?”

Ash lost his balance and staggered against Gary. It was hard for Gary to maintain his balance when Ash’s weight suddenly leaned on him, so he wrapped his arm around Ash’s waist.

”No way”, Gary said strictly. ”You said you’d rest for at least a while. You’ll thank me later.”

They stumbled through a door into an empty bedroom. Gary shoved Ash onto the bed and walked back to the door to close it after them.

When he turned back to Ash, he saw that the boy was wriggling his way out of his t-shirt.

”What are you doing?” Gary asked, mostly amused.  
Ash tossed his shirt on the floor. ”Whaddya mean?”  
”I thought we were joking with Misty”, Gary said, glancing at Ash’s bare upper body.

It seemed like Ash wasn’t really paying attention to the misleading concept of the situation; he lay down on the bed and sighed contently, as if he had had a really rough day.  
”Joking about what?” he asked obliviously.

”I didn’t think there would actually be any undressing”, Gary laughed, though his amusement was slowly turning into a mixture of uncertainty and a weird kind of fascination.

But Ash just sneered. ”You’re dirrrty.”  
”Excuse me?” Gary raised an eyebrow.

Ash didn’t answer, but just rolled onto his stomach and complained. ”I feel dizzy...”

Gary sat on the bed and without thinking, reached his hand to stroke Ash’s hair. ”That will wear off.”

For a second, Gary just sat there and watched Ash’s face. The boy’s eyes were closed and he was frowning slightly, probably because of the dizziness. But every time Gary’s fingers brushed over his hair, Ash’s expression became softer.

_I’m way too drunk, too_ , Gary thought. _He isn’t this cute. I can’t be actually thinking that he’s cute._

”Why did you call me ‘dirty’?” Gary then grunted to break the silence.  
Ash startled a bit, as if he had been halfway asleep already. Then he opened his eyes properly and looked at Gary with accusatory expression, visibly focusing on articulation. ”I take my shirt off, just to get comfy, and you think I’m getting naked for you.”  
”I didn’t think of anything”, Gary claimed. ”I just wanted to make sure you weren’t.”  
Ash rolled onto his back again and looked at Gary sleepily. ”Rest with me.”

Gary hesitated for a second, but at that moment, his senses weren’t coming up with many arguments against lying down with Ash. So he followed the boy’s example; he took his shirt off, shoved a pillow into a better position and lied down on his back.

Ash’s hand wandered onto Gary’s chest almost immediately after Gary had laid down. Gary was taken aback by it at first, but chose to not mind. Ash seemed totally clueless with his actions, and Gary wasn’t in that clear state of mind either.

Fingers laid on the bare chest for a moment, before they started to wander around, caressing the skin gently.

”I’m sorry”, Ash mumbled in a rather lightheaded manner. ”I just wanted to try touching your chest...”  
Gary shrugged nonchalantly. ”Okay.”  
”It looked touchable”, Ash added unnecessarily, too slow-witted to really pay attention to which thoughts of his he said out loud. ”I’ve sometimes wondered what your abs look like.”  
Gary smirked. ”You’re so gay.”  
Ash pouted, but only halfheartedly. ”Am not.”  
”Really?” Gary grinned. ”Don’t you like my body, then?”  
Gary could’ve sworn that Ash began his answer with an audible purr. ”I like it”, the boy said with a stupid smile on his lips.  
Gary had to laugh. ”See? You’re either gay or just gay for me.”  
Ash was concentrating more on feeling Gary’s pecs than on arguing. ”Mm-kay”, he mumbled happily.  
”Wow, you were easy to convince.”  
”I’m too tired to bicker”, Ash mumbled.  
”Not that I can blame you. If I met me, I’d probably go gay for myself.”

* * *

**_Saturday, 9:35 AM_ **

Ash scratched his head. ”I don’t have a slightest memory about any of that. Not the slightest.”  
”Luckily I remember”, Gary snickered. ”It was an important moment of self-discovery for you.”  
”Shut up”, Ash said, mostly just out of habit.

A short silence followed. Despite his automatic urge to disagree with Gary, Ash couldn’t come up with good arguments. So he had touched Gary boldly and apparently enjoyed it too. There wasn’t much he could say to deny that. 

Of course there was the possibility that Gary was either lying or exaggerating to embarrass him, but somehow Ash didn’t consider that very likely.

”I guess I fell asleep pretty quickly”, Ash finally said, emptily.  
Gary stared out of the window. ”Mm-hm.”

The fact that Gary didn’t either meet his eyes or answer with a proper sentence made Ash suddenly very suspicious of him. He squinted at the brunet. ”What?” he asked.  
Gary glanced at him, but turned his eyes to the view outside again. ”Nothing.”  
Ash moved to sit on the very edge of the bed. ”What?” he asked again, now with more force.  
”I said nothing!” Gary hissed.  
”But you sound like you have something to say!”  
Gary shot an annoyed gaze at the boy staring at him. ”There’s absolutely nothing, so knock it off.”  
”I’m not buying it”, Ash said. ”You’re too defensive. What aren’t you telling me? Are you pissed off for something?”  
Gary let out an exaggerated sigh. ”You fell asleep. That was all. End of story.”

Ash didn’t say anything, but kept staring. The more Gary tried to defend himself, the more it seemed like he hadn’t told the whole story. Now the question was if it was because there was something so embarrassing Ash had done or said that even Gary couldn’t speak of it, or if it was the other way around. Maybe Gary had shown a part of himself he was usually determined to keep hidden. Or –

A sudden realization crashed into his mind. It couldn’t be.

”Are you pissed off _because_ I fell asleep?” he blurted out.

Gary’s eyes widened for half a second.

Then he quickly changed his expression back into his usual disapproving frown. ”No! Of course not. It was good that you finally shut your stupid mouth.”

Gary clenched his jaw. If Ash didn’t remember details about the moments just before they had fallen asleep, Gary wouldn’t certainly tell him. He wouldn’t.

* * *

**_Friday, 11:59 PM_ **

A moment of silence prolonged and prolonged, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable one. Ash kept stroking Gary’s upped body lightly, his lips stuck in a giddy smile.

Gary couldn’t deny he was enjoying the touch. But slowly his carefree mind began to wrap around their conversation. He had accused Ash for liking his body just to mess with him, but why wasn’t Ash denying anything?

Was it possible that he actually, really fancied him?

And the hands kept wandering.

”Ash”, Gary said. His voice was oddly loud in the middle of the silence. Ash’s answer was nothing but a lazy murmur.

Gary didn’t know how to continue.

He wanted to blame the alcohol for his lack of words but he knew it wasn’t the case. If anything, alcohol tended to relieve his inhibition and make him talk more freely. Most of the times, drinking didn’t even have an effect on his pronunciation like it did on most people. It just made him say more things than he would say sober.

Except now. Why was it so hard to get a hold of his thoughts?

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Ash was cuddling him and that his fingers were gently and very slowly exploring the area between Gary’s ribs and hipbones. It was, in fact, really distracting.

So distracting that it took him a while before he realized he was kind of hoping that Ash would go downwards.

Gary got goosebumps – and why the hell was he suddenly in an overwhelming need of a kiss?

”Ash”, he said weakly.

Ash didn’t answer. His fingers had stopped still.  
Gary waited.

But all the got as an answer was a soft snore. _A snore._

Not only had Gary just found himself in a state of physical frustration, but also almost exposed something that had been ghosting in the back of his mind for years now. And at a moment like this, Ash had goddamn fallen asleep.

* * *

**_Saturday, 10:37 AM_ **

Ash had seen Gary’s arrogant expression so often over the last years that he knew it by heart. He knew the way Gary arched his eyebrows just to provoke. He had grown to recognize the small wrinkles that appeared at the corners of his eyes when he thought he knew more than his opponent did.

But what Gary had always failed to realize was that at this point, Ash also knew when the expression wasn’t sincere. Ash had learned to see the way Gary overdid his frown when he felt insecure and how his eyelids twitched slightly when he was lying.

The twitch was there now.

”Admit it”, Ash demanded, maintaining eye contact. ”You were pissed off because I fell asleep.”

Gary stared back, actively trying to ignore his lack of counterattacks.

”If I hadn’t...” Ash said carefully. His eyes were wide, but intense. ”Tell me. What did you want from me?”

Gary had decided not to tell Ash about what he had been thinking just before midnight, but it wasn’t easy to hide the thoughts from himself. Actually, there was no helping it now. He had gone through the memory only briefly in his mind, but it was enough to raise a feeling that was hard to push aside. He remembered the feeling of Ash’s hands on his body way too clearly.

”It’s not like I was _pissed off_ ”, he said faintly. ”It’s more like... It wasn’t that bad when you were touching me.”

The next thing Gary knew, Ash was on his feet and walking across the distance between them. Gary grasped the windowsill with his hands to stay in balance, startling when Ash leaned closer. Half a second after, Gary realized what was going to happen.

Obviously the logical way to react to that was to slam his hand onto Ash’s mouth.  
”No, I don’t want to smell your morning breath!” he shrieked.  
Ash just frowned and removed Gary’s hand from his mouth. ”Oh, shut up”, he growled and crashed his lips onto Gary’s.

And despite his protesting just a second ago, Gary gave in right away. Without a slightest bit of modesty, he dove into the kiss.

To be honest, Gary wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to anyone’s morning breath. He pushed against Ash’s lower lip with his tongue and then opened his mouth to let Ash explore it.

They parted for a second when Ash started to pull off, but Gary followed him right after, bringing their lips back together again. The way Gary moved his mouth made Ash want to reconsider his intention of ending the kiss. They were past the stage of dishonesty. They weren’t acting on alcohol anymore. They were alone and he wanted to know more.

After a minute of very thorough kissing, they finally parted, gasping for air.

Their eyes met, both groggy from the kissing.  
Ash blinked rapidly. ”So...”  
Gary cleared his throat. ”Um, so.”

A nervous chuckle came from Ash. He ran his fingers through his own hair. ”Uh, so why didn’t you wake me up, then?”  
”I know that once you fall asleep, you wouldn’t wake up if a bomb exploded next to you”, Gary said bluntly.  
Ash laughed. His eyes sparkled mischievously. ”Is that all?”  
Gary shrugged. ”I also wasn’t that sure of what I wanted from you.”  
”Do you know now?” Ash asked directly.  
”Do I – no!” Gary frowned. ”I mean – what do you –”  
”Do you like me?”  
Gary gave him a sour look. ”What are you, ten?”  
”You’re impossible”, Ash groaned, shaking his head. ”Can’t you just answer the question?”

Gary sighed. He instinctively wanted to shoot another nasty counterattack, but he knew the time for those was running short. He would have to speak honestly sooner or later.

”This may be a strange thing to bring up, but... did you really tell Milly that I’m cute?” Ash asked, a faint tone of red arising on his cheeks. ”I mean, did you use the exact word ‘cute’?”  
Gary hesitated. ”Drunken people say a lot of stuff”, he tried to avoid answering the question.  
”They say that an honest truth comes from either the mouth of a child or the mouth of someone who’s drunk”, Ash said cheekily.  
Gary swallowed his excuses.

”So, did you?” Ash asked again, staring.  
Gary didn’t meet his eyes and his voice was barely audible when he said: ”Yes.”

Ash’s face turned into a gleeful grin.

”Stop making a big deal about it”, Gary grunted before Ash even had a chance to say anything.  
”I wasn’t”, Ash said, but his smile was wider and brighter every second.

Ash caught Gary into a light, playful kiss, like it wasn’t a strange thing to do. Gary wondered if it really wasn’t.

Arms moved on their own account, without either of them thinking about it; Ash’s were soon hooked around the back of Gary’s neck and Gary’s were wrapped around Ash’s waist, and the kiss deepened. Ash only vaguely realized that they were still both shirtless.

Then, without a warning, there was an energetic knock on the door. The knocker didn’t wait; the door flung open barely a second later.

Their reflexes were better than they had been the last time someone had busted them out while they were snogging, but they were still not fast enough. Misty scanned the situation with her eyes – hands on bare skin, flushed cheeks and guilty expressions – and shook her head.

”Damn you two!” Misty exclaimed overly dramatically. ”I knew I shouldn’t have given you two a private space. This room was pure!”  
”This isn’t –” Ash started.

He didn’t finish the sentence. Gary was giving him an annoyed look that made Ash realize it too; Misty wouldn’t buy anything he’d say. Besides, why would he try to deny it?

”This isn’t?” Misty asked, quirking an eyebrow.  
”A very good time for you to parade in”, Gary finished the sentence.  
”Nuh-uh! You will have to continue someplace else if you have unfinished business”, Misty announced briskly. ”Party’s over, boys, it’s time for me to get rid of guests and start to clean up.”  
Ash pulled off from Gary and turned to face Misty properly. ”Can we help with that?”  
Misty looked at the boys, eyes gleaming. ”Thank you for offering, but I think you two have more important things to do. Go home, or on a date, or whatever. I’ll get things done here.”

Both Gary and Ash flinched at the word ‘date’. Their eyes met briefly, before turning to Misty again.  
”If you’re sure”, Ash said.  
”Let’s get out of her way already”, murmured Gary, picking up his shirt and putting it on. ”I could use some food.”  
Ash glanced at him, wondering if the word ‘date’ echoed as loudly in Gary’s ears as it did in his own.

After gathering their belongings, all three of them went downstairs, where several other people were just waking up or taking their leave.

”Thank you for the party, Misty”, Gary said at the front door. ”It was fun.”  
”I agree”, nodded Ash. ”Thanks.”  
”My pleasure”, Misty smiled. ”I’m happy that by throwing a party, I accidentally served as a matchmaker.”  
Neither of the boys agreed or disagreed.

Outside, they started walking side by side, in silence at first. Ash’s head was still aching a bit, but the worst of it had subsided.

”What’s your plan?” Gary asked.  
”Home”, said Ash, taking his cap off, ruffling his hair and putting the cap on again. ”Although walking in the sun doesn’t feel very pleasurable right now.”  
Gary nodded in agreement, already exhausted. ”Taking a shower sounds like a heavenly idea. Then a nap, probably.”  
”God yes. Shower, pizza, and then I’ll spend the rest of the day in my bed watching TV because I’m definitely still more hangover than I’d like to admit.”

Ash glanced at Gary, hesitating. Then he turned his gaze to the sky while mumbling: ”I wouldn’t mind if you joined me.”  
Gary avoided eye contact, too, but the corners of his mouth curled up. ”Sounds like a plan.”

Suddenly Ash started to feel considerably lighter. He wondered if the painkiller had finally kicked in or if it was just Gary’s smirk that did it.

The hangover stopped being the only reason he couldn’t wait to get home.


End file.
